A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

"Xia Jie, the Prince of Wuping, has privately declared himself emperor and instigated a rebellion. Under the guise of purging corrupt officials from the court, he has usurped the throne, defied the will of Heaven, and disregarded patriarchal laws. The Northern Chancellor, acting on His Majesty's orders, has been dispatched to suppress the rebellion, restore order to the state, and bring peace back to the land!"

Zhai Hong directly accused Xia Jie of treason and rebellion, dispatched a million troops south, and publicly requested that the Tang Dynasty come south, claiming that the Tang Dynasty was the suzerain state of all the countries in China, to jointly eliminate the rebel.

He then entrusted all the defenses of the capital to his son, Zhai Zhi, and personally led a large army south.

The war is about to start.

"This old guy is even trying to morally blackmail us."

Cheng Yaojin cursed, uttering a string of civilized words.

"So now you realize we're the suzerain state? Why didn't you say that when we attacked the Tang Dynasty?"

The generals all scoffed and began to curse.

"What happened to the Grand Commander?"

Ma Zhou looked at Li Jing, who remained silent, with a puzzled expression and asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

Li Jing shook his head. "Then proceed according to the original plan, refute Xia Jie's usurpation, and march south to the three cities."

Refuting Xia Jie's claim of usurping the throne?!

This wasn't the case before. If we say this now, it would be difficult to justify turning our attention back to attacking Zhai Hong in the future.

After all, their Great Tang Dynasty was a divine empire, and they couldn't behave so rudely; they still needed to maintain basic etiquette and face.

Ma Zhou looked at Li Jing with suspicion, noticing the yellow silk cloth clutched in his hand. Who sent the message?

He could vaguely see golden dragon patterns on the silk, and it seemed that this silk had changed Li Jing's mind.

"What does it say on it?"

Ma Zhou was a little curious, but seeing that Li Jing didn't seem inclined to tell them, he didn't ask, instead secretly guessing what was going on in his mind.

After everyone else left, Li Jing looked at the silk cloth in his hand with a complicated expression.

Xia Jie is indeed ruthless. Is this what royalty is like?

They would stop at nothing to obtain the throne.

He must establish an ancestral precept that no one should participate in the struggle for the throne, no matter how high the odds of winning or losing seem.

If you gamble, you're guaranteed to lose.

As long as you don't gamble, you're guaranteed not to lose.

This is an eternal and unchanging truth.

Li Jing threw the silk cloth in his hand into the stove. In the distorted firelight, he could vaguely see the words "young emperor" and "death".

Li Jing turned around, put his hands behind his back, and sighed. He would just focus on being a good general; he didn't understand or want to understand anything else.

Perhaps he should learn from his predecessor, Wang Jian, the veteran general who was the greatest contributor to Qin's conquest of the six states.

Self-defilement!

However, perhaps he had another option: to retire to his hometown, live in seclusion in Yanzhou, and remain aloof from worldly affairs.

With the southward advance of the Tang Dynasty, Zhai Hong finally breathed a sigh of relief and was at ease. He then mobilized a million troops to march south, leaving only a few hundred thousand troops on the border to defend against the Tang Dynasty.

Zhai Hong's side was celebrating their victory, while Xia Jie's side was the opposite, looking worried and distressed.

However, the higher-ups didn't take it seriously. They all knew about the agreement between Xia Jie and Li Jing, and that it was all a scheme by both sides.

With the tacit understanding between the two sides, Xia Jie's three important cities were easily captured by Li Jing, and the remnants of the army hurriedly retreated to the formidable Zhenlong Pass behind the three cities.

The news of the victory shook the entire Xia Dynasty, as these three important cities were crucial to Xia Jie's defenses.

With the loss of three cities, Xia Jie's eastern territory will only have Zhenlong Pass as its defensive line. If Zhenlong Pass is breached, half of Xia Jie's territory will become like a vulnerable girl, completely defenseless against Li Jing.

Zhai Hong felt something was amiss. These three cities were breached too easily. Given the level of defense in these three cities, how could the Tang Dynasty have breached them so quickly?

Is this a trap?

But it's impossible that Xia Jie and Li Jing are in cahoots, right?!

Surely no fool would hand over three important cities just to mislead him?

Impossible. Although Xia Jie is not as good as his father, he is still of average appearance.

Furthermore, Zhang Wuji, the strategist under Xia Jie, possesses the qualities of a national hero; how could he not stop it!

If you eliminate all the impossible answers, then the one that remains, however unbelievable, will be the truth.

That is, the Tang Dynasty really did conquer these three cities in a special way, severely damaging Xia Jie in one fell swoop.

If Xia Jie doesn't react in time, Li Jing can take the opportunity to break through Zhenlong Pass, and then sweep away Xia Jie's entire rear.

Xia Jie is doomed to lose!

Zhai Hong spread the battle report throughout the army, and the morale of the entire army soared. In contrast, Xia Jie's army suffered from low morale and repeatedly fell into a disadvantageous position on the battlefield.

"It's time."

Xia Jie sat in his tent, gazing into the darkness before him. "The Great Xia can only have one emperor, so don't blame me, my good nephew."

"What! What did you say?!"

Zhai Hong's white-haired body was trembling slightly as he tightly gripped the collar of the messenger who had come to deliver the message, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"Prime Minister, it's absolutely true! His Majesty has been assassinated and has passed away!"

The messenger cried out in mourning.

Zhai Hong stumbled and fell to the ground.

"Prime Minister!"

The ministers in the tent were startled and quickly went over to help Zhai Hong up.

"How could this be? How is this possible?!"

Zhai Hong muttered to himself, his eyes glazed over, and said in disbelief.

Is that a summer breeze?

Zhai Hong looked at the messenger and asked.

"I do not know!"

The messenger shook his head, saying that he had rushed over to deliver the news as soon as he received the news of the emperor's assassination, but he didn't know the specifics.

"Go down."

Zhai Hong waved his hand and gave a look to the guards beside him.

The guards understood and led the messenger out. As soon as they left the tent, they slit the messenger's throat with a single stroke.

"No one is to spread this news, lest it shake the morale of the troops!"

Zhai Hong said in a cold voice.

The young emperor's death was a catastrophe.

You must know that the young emperor is still young and has no offspring, which means that the direct line of the emperor is cut off!

Zhai Hong knew that such big news couldn't be kept secret for long, so he had to find a way as soon as possible.

"Damn it!"

I should have just ascended the throne; at least I wouldn't be in this awkward situation now.

Soon, more detailed information came from the capital.

The assassin who killed the young emperor was none other than Xia Feng, known as the "Chopping Hand of the Great Xia Royal Family"!

"Damn it! It really is him! What on earth does he want?!"

Zhai Hong was furious. He never imagined that Xia Feng would be so ruthless as to dare to assassinate even the young emperor!

Zhai Hong couldn't figure out what Xia Feng was trying to do!

Furthermore, how did Zhai Zhi manage to have the emperor assassinated right under his nose?

Before he left, he specifically instructed him to keep a close eye on Xia Feng!

Why did Xia Feng still manage to assassinate His Majesty?!

What is Zhai Zhi good for?!